When did OCSA kids start liking sports? 

Kayalani DeGrave & Samuel Parigela

It’s no secret that this arts school lacks student-wide regard for sports. However, during the fall, OCSA students built a widespread, never-before-seen interest in one sport particularly…soccer. The World Cup drew in a great deal of student comradery in watching the games at lunch, during class, or in any other free time found. Some teachers even projected the games in their classrooms. So what was so different about this year? The World Cup typically runs from June to July, but since this year’s tournament was during the school year, OCSA students had more opportunities to connect over this event. Furthermore, students like Maya Bleszinski (MT ‘23) were interested this year because it was “so many great players' potential last world cup,” and it was exciting to be a part of their journeys.

With OCSA’s newfound interest in the World Cup, it led to questions about whether or not the student body would take interest in other sports phenomena, like the Super Bowl this month. However, it is unlikely that OCSA will react as strongly to the Super Bowl, partially because it happens every year, so it doesn't have the same built-up excitement as the World Cup, which happens every four years. Additionally, as Bleszinski shared, there seems to be “less incentive to root for Super Bowl teams” than World Cup teams because a majority of students don’t have the same connections with football teams as they do for their “countries of origin.” The World Cup has immense cultural ties and unites people from all around the globe to root for their countries or places of ancestry, which is something that the Super Bowl doesn’t uphold. Rather, each team represents a specific city or region of the United States, which is less personal for many. This year’s game is between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, and because neither of them belong to a nearby region, it is unlikely that a lot of OCSA students will have affiliations with these teams.

For Diego Linn (CW ‘25), soccer was a “totally new interest” as he wasn’t much of a sports fan before. He stated his interest in the World Cup was rooted in the fact that soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo participated in the World Cup, especially given that this is likely Ronaldo’s last. About the Super Bowl, Linn plainly expressed, “I’m not interested in the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is just the U.S., not global, so it’s just less popular.” Linn shared the same sentiment as Bleszinski that OCSA as a whole would likely not watch the Super Bowl with the same enthusiasm, remarking that the school’s culturally diverse student body has “less representation in the Super Bowl as opposed to the World Cup of soccer, which is an international competition.” While many Super Bowl teams have large fanbases, OCSA students can’t connect with these teams the same way they do to the World Cup teams.